Reducing My Son's Screen-Time
When we started sending my son to a Waldorf school, I really didn’t know what that meant in terms of lifestyle changes my wife and I had to make to support our son’s education.
One thing we had to change: the amount of screen-time our kids have.
It was probably because of COVID pandemic, our son’s screen-time increased. How could it not during that period? Even my screen-time went up (and that’s with a day job on a computer!)
When we had a parent-teacher conference and the teacher asked:
Is your son getting medication for his allergy? He seems lethargic in class.
That question shocked me - because we were not giving any medications.
One thing I was doing: giving him screen-time in the morning to motivate him for preparing for school.
We reduced screen-time everywhere we could and I cut the morning screen-time as part of it.
I noticed that he was more energetic at school. I followed up with the teacher and they mentioned a drastic improvement.
Now I realize, screen-time for a young developing mind has different effects than for a developed mind. Hearing the change in my son from being lethargic to energetic with that one change opened my eyes up to screen-time.
Reducing screen-time is hard, especially when the kids experience lots of screen time and parents get a break.
The rewards of reduced screen-time are great - because your child’s mind can develop using all their senses, not just their eyes and ears. As a parent, it’s been great too - I reduce my own screen-time and spend more time with my kids without a screen.
We enjoy being with each other!
At the end, isn’t that the main reason why we sacrifice so much and have kids?!